Dark academia: Illuminating the luxe library fashion trend

SPOTLIGHT / The dark arts

The dark academia aesthetic, seen here on the Ralph Lauren runway in 2016, is back.Credit: Getty Images

Spend any time going down the #darkacademia rabbit hole on Instagram or TikTok and you might find yourself yearning for rain, a boyfriend with Byronesque hair, a wardrobe of argyle knits and tweed pants, a leather chesterfield and an antique wooden bookcase lined with slim tomes by Poe, Wilde and the Brontës.

Such is the charm of the dark academia subculture, which combines the literary and the preppy with a dash of the gothic … think the love child of Evelyn Waugh and Mary Shelley via Donna Tartt, whose 1992 The Secret History – set in a liberal New England college – is the DA bible.

And now legions of serious young things are eschewing technology (but not their TikTok accounts!) in favour of brooding poetry, handwritten letters, classical architecture, a lot of candles, the occasional skull and Debussy.

Fashion is integral to the DA aesthetic and none of it would look out of place in the hallowed halls of 1930s Oxford or Princeton. Vintage and op-shopped pieces are de rigueur, as are brown, burgundy, grey and dark green, old leather satchels, berets, oversized jackets, brogues and cardigans. (Styling tips aplenty live at @myfairesttreasure, run by 22-year-old Sydney Decker.)

There’s a gender fluidity and androgyny present, too, which has attracted a substantial LGBTQI+ fanbase, according to The New York Times. As one adherent said: “It’s a very open community, even though it’s about classics … It’s also about breaking stereotypes regardless of gender or sexuality.” Deborah Cooke

LISTEN / True fake

Maya Lin Sugarman’s podcast discusses her uncle’s hidden life as a gangster alongside the issue of racism in Hollywood.

After her grandmother died, journalist Maya Lin Sugarman discovered a box of screenplays written by her late uncle Galen, including one for a film about Chinese-American gangsters in California. Lin Sugarman dug deeper and, much to her surprise, uncovered two things: the story was inspired by her uncle’s hidden life as a gangster, pimp and drug addict; and had been adapted into a film, 1998’s schlocky Crazy Six, which had been whitewashed of Asian characters, set in Eastern Europe and starred the unlikely trio of Rob Lowe, Burt Reynolds and Ice-T. Her podcast, Magnificent Jerk, lives up to its billing as “a true story about a fake story about a real life” and while highly personal for Lin Sugarman, it also investigates the wider issue of racism in Hollywood and whose stories get told. Barry Divola

WEAR / Knit wit

Anya Hindmarch and Uniqlo release a winter-wear collab.

Cheeky motifs, contrast stitching and exposed seams characterise the approach of British fashion designer Anya Hindmarch. Now she’s bringing her playful sensibility and impeccable craftsmanship
to a special winter-wear collab with high-street brand Uniqlo to create a collection of cosy sweaters, stoles, beanies and gloves that will “make pulling on your knitwear the favourite part of your day” (from $19.90). Here’s looking at you, kid. Frances Mocnik

A compilation of letters from Aussie men serving in North Africa.

READ / Out of Africa

Hitler probably wasn’t thinking much about the deserts of North Africa as a theatre of war, nor of the tenacity of Australian soldiers, when his troops overran Poland in 1939. But it was in Africa he later suffered some of his most stunning defeats, despite the efforts of German general Erwin Rommel, as a garrison including 14,000 Australian soldiers held firm in the besieged Libyan port city of Tobruk. A new book, Desert Diggers, told through the letters home of the Aussie men serving in North Africa, makes for a compelling and moving read. “Bolstering morale, letters from home were as indispensable to a soldier as his rifle and bayonet,” writes author David Mitchelhill-Green. Greg Callaghan

HELP / Cover girls

Give the gift of warmth. With each purchase, a blanket is donated to a woman in need.

This heart-warming, special-edition quilted blanket collection is a collaboration between Australian fashion brand Jac+ Jack and Two Good Co, an Australian social enterprise empowering women with lived experiences of homelessness, domestic violence and complex trauma. With each purchase ($380), an identical blanket – inspired by the traditional Indian razai quilt and made using layers of soft, fine-count cotton – is donated to a woman who’s accessing a shelter. Individually numbered and paired with their gift companions, the blankets are part of a unique story, spreading warmth, hope and help this winter. Frances Mocnik

PLAY / Yesterday once more

Four artists join an all-female band to present the music of The Carpenters.

As a late teen, I loved the Carpenters. I’d play a cassette of their greatest hits non-stop; what angst-ridden teen doesn’t love to wallow in songs about sadness? Their poignancy felt even stronger when I heard them sung by a quartet of fabulous voices at the Sydney Opera House, part of the national tour (A Kind of Hush, from $75) that ends this afternoon with a second concert there. Led by Katie Noonan with Abby Dobson, Melinda Schneider and Layla Havana (a 15-year-old Indigenous singer being mentored by Noonan), the singers take the audience through hits such as Close to You, Rainy Days and Mondays and We’ve Only Just Begun. Why more poignant? Because knowing that Karen Carpenter died at only 32, of heart failure related to her anorexia, seems so much sadder when you’re that much older. And the lyrics written by her brother, Richard, that much more telling. Katrina Strickland

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